Summary

In this chapter, we have discussed one of the core elements of organizations’ IT infrastructure: the database. This is where much of the most important information exists, including data about clients, employees, inventory, and more. Because databases are such a vital part of organizations, attackers will look for them. The nature of the data attacker’s motivation will vary – it could be for espionage or just to hold the data for ransom. We looked at different ways in which databases can be exploited, including connectivity protocols, misconfigurations, code with hardcoded credentials, and temporary or application databases that IT is not aware of and therefore cannot properly secure. Needless to say, there are several areas of database security that need to be monitored and addressed, without which the organization is open to being exploited.

In the next chapter, we will be discussing a core component of all network communications, and that is TCP/IP...